Box Score (Rolla, Mo.) – After a slow start the Missouri S&T Lady Miners got out to a big lead then had to hold on as Central State rallied late getting it to within seven under a minute left before hanging on for a 79-68 win on Tuesday evening at Billy Key Court in Rolla.

The Lady Miners (14-12) fell behind early then rattled off 15 straight points getting a lot of lay-ups and a three from Jazmine Bell (Euclid, Ohio/Euclid). The Marauders made only one of their first 17 shots. CSU started to get hot from the floor making a trio of threes to get within five at the 8:00 mark. Jenny Dorman (Pella, Iowa/Pella)'s three pushed the lead back to eight as the lead wouldn't dip below that the rest of the half. Each team began trading baskets before S&T closed the half on a 13-4 run behind six points from Tamara McCaskill, five from Dorman and two from Courtney Kemp (Fredricktown, Mo./Fredricktown).

The Lady Miners shot 52 percent (14-of-27) from the floor and was 4-for-7 from downtown in the frame while holding Central State to just 9-for-35 (26 percent). McCaskill finished the half with 15 points to lead while scorers while Dorman had eight and Kemp dropped in seven. McCaskill also had seven rebounds in the frame.

McCaskill opened the second half with a fast break lay-up to become the school's all-time leader in career field goals made with 563 giving S&T a 20 point advantage. The lead ballooned to as much as 25 just five minutes into the frame on an old-fashioned three point play by Lauren Dubbert (Madison, Mo./Madison). The Marauders then began to knock down shots and were able to implore their full court pressure defense turning four Lady Miner turnovers into eight points allowing them to cut the deficit to 55-45 with 10:32 remaining. Dorman had another answer though burying another three to push the lead back to 13. The game would remain at the 11-to-15 point margin for the next seven minutes with each side trading baskets.

Trailing 73-59 with 2:27 left Central State ran off seven straight points to get it to seven with just 0:46 ticks left. Forced to foul the Lady Miners went to the foul line but Brittany Percival (Hartville, Mo./Hartville ) made just 1-of-2 at the line to push it back to eight. After a block by Katie McElrath (Owasso, Okla./Owasso) she then went to the line making three-of-four free throws in consecutive possessions then made a lay-up with 0:08 to go sealing the deal.

S&T shot the ball better in the frame making 13-of-23 (57 percent) but went just 10-for-19 at the foul line and turned it over 14 times resulting in 19 CSU points.

McCaskill finished with 20 on the evening to lead four Lady Miners in double figures. Dubbert had 14, Dorman finished with 11 and Kemp dropped home 10. McElrath finished just shy of another double-double getting nine points and 11 rebounds.

Shayla Henderson led all scorers with 23, 17 coming in the second half, while Ijeoma Ofomata finished with 18.

S&T closes out the regular season hosting Missouri-St. Louis on Saturday evening at Billy Key Court starting out 5:30 p.m. It will be senior night for the Lady Miners as they will honor their six seniors.